He slammed his racket down, kicked a water bottle and then hurled a chair onto the court.

The umpire called the referee to court but, before he could be officially defaulted, Kyrgios told the crowd ‘I’m done’, packed up his bag and walked off to loud whistles and jeers.

It is far from the first controversy Kyrgios has been involved in and the Australian, who will automatically forfeit his prize money, is sure to face a heavy fine at the very least.

Hopefully @ATP_Tour takes a very careful look exactly what happened in Kyrgios match, with his prior issues especially the one ☝️ in China 🇨🇳 a few years ago, u wonder what they will do for fines and or suspension

The 24-year-old was given a ban by the ATP in 2016 after walking off court midway through a match against Mischa Zverev at the Shanghai Masters and may well find himself suspended again.

Kyrgios’ antics came only 24 hours after he laid into the sport’s biggest stars in an interview on the No Challenges Remaining podcast, saying he ‘could not stand’ Novak Djokovic and calling Rafael Nadal “super salty”.

After Wednesday’s wash-out it was a packed schedule in Rome, with Nadal, Djokovic and Roger Federer all due to play again on Thursday after winning their second-round matches.